Your Best Friend, Rumi
by Phantomile
Summary: Chihiro's best friend Rumi planned to visit her as soon as she could, but she didn't plan on taking a wrong turn along the way
1. Chapter 1 I'll miss you, Chihiro

Disclaimer- Let me make this simpler for both you and me. I don't know Spirited Away. I own my ideas. I don't think there's any way you could misunderstand that.  
  
Your Best Friend, Rumi By Alliecuno of Phantomile  
  
"I'll miss you Chihiro!  
  
Your best friend,  
  
Rumi."  
  
The words echoed in an irritating way in the mind of Rumiko Miyazawa. In fact, the words were louder than the soundtrack she'd been listening to in her old CD player, which looked as though it had been well loved for years. That, or dropped several times in the past few months.  
  
Gazing longingly out the window, Rumiko fidgeted for lack of boredom. Though summer was coming to an end, it was still warm out, making the girl lethargic most days. But today, her anxious energy kept her moving about every few minutes. Her mother had long since stopped asking her questions like "would you like to stop and get a drink?" or "Do you want me to roll your window down?" for by now, she knew all her daughter wanted was to arrive at their destination.  
  
Rumi had been waiting anxiously for about two months now to visit her best friend, Chihiro. It had taken nearly three weeks for them to come into contact, and though Chihiro swore it was just because their phone line had a problem with it, and things were too hectic to write, Rumi couldn't help but pick up an unsure tone in her voice whenever they were on the subject.  
  
Today, however, this would not be a problem. Rumi had made sure it wouldn't be. Looking over her shoulder for perhaps the 5th time in the last ten minutes, Rumi made sure her bag of clothes and necessities had not vanished from the seat beside her. She then glanced down at her CD player to make sure it was playing a song she liked, though she knew her mind would wander too much to hear it. Finally, glancing at her mom, she asked, "Are we almost there?" in an anxious, even worried way.  
  
Sighing in an exasperated but loving way, Mrs. Miyazawa responded with nothing more than, "Rumi, we'll be there as soon as we can. We've had some bad luck with traffic, but we're almost there. Why don't you listen to the radio for a while?"  
  
"No thanks." Said Rumi in a let down and pouty voice. She stretched her long and slender legs as best she could, and being in the back seat of her mom's compact car, that was not much. Even if she hadn't been slouching in her chair, she still wouldn't have been able to stretch that much. She had always been a tall and slender girl; her rosy cheeks offered proof she loved to frolic outdoors, and her hair had been lightened from ebony to a very dark brown in only the last 3 months.  
  
Where there had been noise in her ears one moment, there was silence. Not noticing for about two minutes, Rumi finally turned her CD player off to conserve battery power. She sighed, reminiscing a moment.  
  
Closing her eyes, she replayed Chihiro's last day in her school yet again. She had been sobbing most of the day, herself. Rumi was the type to become emotionally attached to all her friends very quickly and easily. Through her sorrow, she couldn't think of anything better to write on Chihiro's goodbye card than "I'll miss you Chihiro! Your best friend, Rumi."  
  
Those words haunted her. She knew she was being critical of herself, but Rumi could not shake the feeling that she'd written something rather insincere.  
  
"Rumi, I think we're getting close." Mrs. Miyazawa said, glancing down at the directions she'd written on a blindingly bright pink post it. "The directions say it should be on our right, and that it's the blue house on the end." She muttered while trying to concentrate on driving and reading directions.  
  
As if shocked, Rumi bolted upright and leaned to the right, gazing out the window intently. She kept her eyes wide and alert, hardly blinking, as if that would make her miss something important.  
  
"It should be coming up.." Mrs. Miyazawa said while glancing to the directions and back to the road quickly several times.  
  
"There!!" Rumi yelled in an excited and high pitched tone, pointing enthusiastically to the blue-green house at the end of a row of other houses. Her mother, jumped a bit at this outburst, but quickly calmed herself, smiling at her daughter's anxious and now more frequent fidgeting.  
  
"Momma, turn there!" Rumi said in a quick voice, obviously very much alive and anxious now. Her hand now pointed to an exit that they were approaching fast.  
  
Taking the exit and driving a bit faster than usual, so to make her daughter happy with their pace, Mrs. Miyazawa abandoned the directions, pretty sure she could take things from here.  
  
Rumi giggled, opening her bag and putting in her CD player. In her haste to do this, however, she'd forgotten to remove the headphones from her ears. And, sadly, they were the kind that go directly in your ear, so they had tugged her head down before coming out of the CD player. She laughed at this too, though. Nothing could make today go wrong.  
  
"Rumi, I think we made a wrong turn somewhere." Mrs. Miyazawa said in a concerned way, looking around the car for her directions, which must have fallen on the floor when she had turned. They had stopped before a very large tree with several shrines below it. "Are you sure that's the right house? There could be other houses with more blue ones."  
  
"No!" Rumi said, as if she would have denied it even if it were true (which, she would have). "Chihiro told us to take that exit." She said this in a convincing way, though she had made it up off the top of her head. Chihiro hadn't given her any directions, Chihiro's mom had. Rumi just wanted to get to her best friend's house as quickly as possible and wanted to avoid backtracking as much as possible.  
  
With a sigh, almost as though she knew her daughter were lying in a convincing way, Mrs. Miyazawa drove on. The rode became very bumpy and sketchy with many branches looming in their way. She drove very carefully, more than once considering turning back. The occasional anxious whine from her daughter, worried about being late, kept her going with a smirk on her face.  
  
Finally, a large red building came into view. It's red paint appeared to be old, as it was peeling, and there was a curious stone covered in moss before the large entrance into it. Upon further inspection, Rumi confirmed to her mom, "It's a tunnel."  
  
"We aren't going to be able to drive through." Mrs. Miyazawa said cautiously to her daughter, not wanting her to be upset that they may need to turn around.  
  
"C'mon, momma!" Rumi said in an anxious way, opening her door and grabbing her bag off the other seat, sliding out of the car. "We have to go to Chihiro's! The walk shouldn't be that long."  
  
"Rumi, I really don't know about this." Her mother began, but Rumi had already begun to march optimistically forward. She did, however, stop to stare at the mossy stone. She noticed it had a face carved into it, but disregarded this as some old thing that needed to be removed eventually and had not been already.  
  
"Rumi!" Mrs. Miyazawa called sternly, but her daughter just lifted up her hand and waved, not even turning around. Muttering something kindly about her daughters free spirit, she opened her car door, got out, locked it, and jogged ahead to catch up with her daughter.  
  
Whistling cheerfully in the tunnel, Rumi looked around in the darkness a moment before seeing light before her. She ran ahead into a dimly lit room with a few benches and some multi-colored round windows. There also seemed to be a bird bath or a drinking fountain in there, but Rumi didn't care what it was.  
  
"I think we're supposed to go through one of those tunnels." Mrs. Miyazawa said having entered the room. Turning around, Rumi saw what her mother was talking about. The tunnel they had emerged from was in the center, while there were too other entrances on either side of it "I can't remember anything on the directions about it. Do you remember Chihiro mentioning anything on the subject?"  
  
"Chihiro?" Rumi asked in a moment of forgetfulness before she froze and turned a shade of pink, "No, I think she said to go through this place." This time, her lie was more obvious.  
  
With a reluctant sigh, Mrs. Miyazawa follower her daughter, not seeing why it would be a bad idea. She followed Rumi out to a grassy area, where there was an occasional stone poking out of the ground, much like the mossy one outside the tunnel.  
  
"Maybe it's over this hill." Rumi said, her voice pleading with fate now. All she wanted was to just be there. Plus, her arm was starting to hurt from carrying her bag. She had loaded it with several things, not all of them particularly light, after all.  
  
Once atop the hill, Rumi could see what appeared to be a town. But it seemed abandoned, and rather old. "Momma, I'm gonna run ahead." Rumi said, not leaving her mom time to respond, or time to reach the top of the hill herself.  
  
Running down the hill and across a stony riverbed, Rumi scrambled up the stairs leading into town before halting at her mother's voice.  
  
"Rumiko Mizayawa!" Her mother yelled in her stern way, dashing over as fast as she could in the lingering heat of a dying summer. Stopping beside her slightly cowering daughter, she sighed and patted her head, "Okay, now you can keep walking."  
  
Rumi smiled, glad not to have been given a lecture on not getting herself lost. "I think Chihiro lives in one of these places." She said, pointing to the buildings on either side of her without looking at them.  
  
"I think these are shops." said Mrs. Miyazawa, turning to them skeptically, "Actually..They're restaraunts. I really think we should be turning around Rumi, or we'll really be late."  
  
"No!" Rumi said immediately, standing up a bit taller in an alert way, "Just a little bit farther. Oh, please, can I run ahead?" she added on the last part in a sheepish way.  
  
"Yes, you may." Her mother said in a loving tone, laughing slightly as her daughter immediately burst forward in a sprint.  
  
Rumi payed no attention to the buildings she passed. She was almost positive they were lost and had taken a wrong turn, but was determined not to admit that to herself or anyone else. Walking in quick little steps up several stairs, Rumi finally stopped her running to lean against a lamp in the middle at the top.  
  
Glancing at her watch, she flinched. It was 6:15pm, and she was supposed to have been at Chihiro's at 6:00 sharp. With a great sigh, she lifted her head and turned left, facing a large red building with a bridge leading to it.  
  
She was now positive they had taken a wrong turn.  
  
As the sun was beginning to fall a little, Rumi felt the heat increase. She removed a thin hair tie from her wrist, sloppily pulling her hair into a low pony tail. She walked about half way onto the bridge before noticing the sky was falling at an oddly rapid pace. Shrugging, she turned around and ran to find her mother, who ought to have been wandering slowly and looking at everything.  
  
No sooner had she been slowly walking down the bottom half of a stairs than the sky was being painted pink. She had never seen such a fast sunset. It almost made her forget. Chihiro! Her pace quickened slightly.  
  
About ten yards from the bottom of the stairs, Rumi heard footsteps behind her, going down those stairs. It was now almost dark, and with an electric humming sound, lanterns burst to life above her. Turning around with a gasp, Rumi saw a young boy before her.  
  
He was definitely older than her, and his clothes weren't modern. He was wearing an odd white top, with a dark blue undershirt she couldn't see, and lighter blue pants which appeared to have been tied to stop after his knee, and a purple sash to hold his white shirt closer to himself. His hair was shoulder-length, and even from several yards away, Rumi could see his striking green eyes.  
  
He looked shocked to see her, saying in a disbelieving and almost hopeful voice, "Chihiro?"  
  
Rumi was taken aback. Literally, steping backward, "You know Chihiro? Where is she?" It had escaped her mind that with her hair in the ponytail, she looked like her best friend. She then realized this and removed her hair tie and stood there, blinking.  
  
The boy's eyes suddenly narrowed as he looked upward. It was night time. "what are you doing here?" he asked in a surprisingly cold way, as he had just sounded joyful the moment before.  
  
"I-I was going to see Chihiro!" Rumi said defensively, now worried, her eyes darted about as she held her hands up hear her heart. "Where's my mom?"  
  
Shaking his head, the boy walked forward quickly, grabbing her arm and pulling her down the street quickly. "You and your mom haven't eaten anything here, have you?" he asked tensely, looking around quickly in a somewhat worried way.  
  
"I haven't, and I don't think momma has." Rumi said in a faltering voice, worried now. "Who are you anyway?"  
  
"My name's Kohaku." He said, a hint of happiness at the sound of his own name in his voice. This made Rumi quirk a brow and lag a bit, but the boy continued to pull her.  
  
Suddenly, Kohaku stopped in his tracks. A black and white cow was pacing around before him, it's head darting side to side in a worried way. The cow seemed to spot Rumi and approach her quickly, making the girl screech and step back several paces.  
  
Gritting his teeth and shaking his head, Kohaku grabbed Rumi by the wrist and put his hand on the cow's back, trying to urge the confused animal forward. The cow, however, was very stubborn, and backed up if anything.  
  
"What's your name?" Kohaku asked in his struggle to move the animal forward.  
  
"Rumiko." Rumi said in her confusion, becoming frightened. "Where's my mom."  
  
Not saying a word, Kohaku, still holding her wrist, moved her arm so that it was around the cow's neck. "Make her move forward." He told Rumi. To Rumi's surprise, the cow moved obediently, but Kohaku seemed to have expected this.  
  
"Move as fast as you can back to the bath house." He instructed in a somewhat tense way.  
  
"Why? Where's my mom?" Rumi's voice was now a bit panicy, but she moved the cow as best she could.  
  
"Just get there as quick as you can." Said Kohaku, looking back and seeing shadowy figures beginning to emerge from the restaraunts. 


	2. Chapter 2 Into Aburaya

Author's Note- I am perhaps one of the laziest people you will ever meet! That's why I update so slowly. Also, for those of you who don't know this already, I don't know Rumi's real name! Or her character or anything for that matter, so everything I'm writing is just made up in my little mind. Except the name, which Pheep helped me with. Thank you Pheep!! Finally, thank you everyone who has reviewed. Reviews are one of the only things that make me write when I feel lazy. Which I do. Oh, and I'm sorry to all you Chihiro fans, but she won't be making an appearance in this story *apologizes several more times*. Feel free to suggest things to me! Without further ado, I give you the second chapter.  
  
Your Best Friend, Rumi Chapter 2- Into Aburaya  
  
"Just keep walking."  
  
That was all the boy known as Kohaku would say to Rumi. He seemed to be coaxing her onward just as she was coaxing the cow. It was impossible to tell, but Rumi had the feeling that beyond his calm appearance and soothing voice, there may have been a hint of eagerness.  
  
Rumi jerked awake from her worried thoughts at the sound of a door opening. She turned for the first time to see several shadowing figures looming above her in the street. They were semi-transparent, from what she could see, but it may have been only a trick of the dim lights.  
  
Letting a yelp escape from her mouth, Rumiko Miyazawa finally began to feel the surrealism of everything around her. The sun setting so fast, the tall shadow-creatures walking in a lumbering way, the cow she was leading, and the strange boy who had thought she was Chihiro.  
  
Something clicked in Rumi's mind and she stopped dead in her tracks, which was a good thing, as they had just approached the steps that lead to the bridge. Kohaku turned his head to face her, as she was standing in a shocked way. This boy knew Chihiro. This... Kohaku. must know the way out of here to Chihiro's house!  
  
No sooner had Rumi thought of this than Kohaku was urging her onward, saying yet again, "Just keep walking." But his voice sounded a bit worried now.  
  
However, Rumi could not 'just keep walking'. The cow refused to walk up the steps. This made Kohaku even more anxious to move. He tried and tried to pull the cow onto the first step, and even with Rumi's aid, failed.  
  
Walking in a worried way to the steps, Rumi sank quickly to sit down. This was too much for her to deal with. After a few more seconds trying to coax the cow, who was now at least as worried as Rumi, up the steps, Kohaku turned and saw Rumi, who had her head in her knees and was rocking back and forth. Abandoning the cow, Kohaku stood on the step below the one Rumi was sitting on and crouched down. Looking up from her knees, Rumi saw that he was taller than her, even with her being a step above him. So he was older. The thought that someone older was helping her comforted Rumi a little.  
  
"Where's my mom?" Rumi asked, comfort vanishing immediately.  
  
Kohaku looked down slightly, seeming upset over something. He quickly recovered and looked back up at her, saying only, "I don't think we're going to be able to make the cow walk any further." He had changed the subject with ease, and Rumi noticed with ease.  
  
"Where's my mom? And how do we get to Chihiro's?!" Rumi was now desperate, her eyes watering slightly in frustration and confusion. This.place.was like another world. She didn't like this world.  
  
Seeming to be brought to life at the mention of Chihiro, Kohaku stood up immediately, grabbing Rumi's wrist in the process. She tugged against him a moment, somewhat tired of him repeating this motion, but his grip remained firm. Pulling her to the cow, he walked on the other side of the animal, and put Rumi's arm around its neck as it had been before.  
  
"We're going to that shop." Kohaku informed her, releasing her wrist and pointing to the only restaurant that was not lit and filled with a shadow- creature or two. Nodding feebly, Rumi did as instructed, though her legs were shaking and her body was cold.  
  
Holding his hand outward with his palm up, parallel to the door, Kohaku opened it. Rumi stared a moment. He hadn't even touched the door, had he? She was too awestruck to hear him telling her to 'just keep walking'. He repeated this, though, and she heard it the second time.  
  
The cow was not too reluctant to enter the hardly lit room. Rumi could hardly see a thing, seeing as the only light was from the other shops and the lanterns outside. Perhaps, she thought, cows have better vision than people do.  
  
"You may remove your arm now." Kohaku said, watching from the side. Rumi furrowed her brow. She didn't like him speaking as though he were giving her permission for something she'd asked to do. In fact, she had rather liked her arm being around the cow, she thought. Although, this thought could just have been to spite the boy.  
  
Removing her arm, however, Rumi noticed her hand glowing slightly.and the center of it appeared discolored compared to the rest of her hand and arm. Giving a loud shriek rumiand jumping back about a foot, Rumi flung her arm around as if it were something undesirable. Kohaku watched intently, making a sound of sudden awareness as Rumi placed her other hand on top of the one  
that seemed to appall her so, and found this hand to be as bad as the  
other.  
  
"I'm disappearing!!" Rumi yelled in panic, frozen to the spot as Haku ran to the side of the room and rummaged through jars on a shelf. He seemed to be making a lot of commotion, but managed to yell over it all, "Don't worry! You'll be fine!"  
  
Seeming to have found what he was looking for, Kohaku ran back to Rumi handing her a piece of bread. Rumi was irritated. She was becoming nothing but thin air, and all this boy wanted to do was feed her?! And what about her mom? And Chihiro? And where was she?  
  
"Eat it. It'll make you better." Kohaku's voice interrupted the thoughts that were making Rumi fade into worried and enraged panic. Looking up a bit and preparing to say something rude or burst out and take her anger out on Kohaku, Rumi suddenly cooled down when she met his eyes. His calm mood seemed to radiate off of him and into her, and her attitude shifted in the way only a child's could.  
  
Where a moment ago, Rumi would have snatched the bread, she now took it and bit into it with a bit of hesitance. It tasted bitter, and it was crunchy. Choking on it a moment, Rumi's eyes watered in a disgusted way. She always had been a picky eater. Making a deal of swallowing with a melodramatic disgusted look on her face, Rumi looked immediately to her hand. In a second, it became solid.  
  
"See? You can trust me." Kohaku said, smiling happily. Rumi felt a bit guilty for being angry with him a moment ago, but quickly abandoned any thoughts of sulking in exchange for worry once again. Her mom. Chihiro. This place. The thoughts would not leave her alone. Apparently, Kohaku could see this in her expression, because the next thing he said was, "We have to go to the bath house. You saw that earlier, right?"  
  
Rumi nodded. She remembered earlier.she had been anxious, and so energetic, whereas now her legs were wobbly, and she wanted only to be back home. Yes, if she were home, she could have been able to have her mom call Chihiro and see if she could have come to Rumi's house. Yes, her mom....Oh. She cringed; she had been mean/rude/slightly simpler word for 'unkind' to her mom earlier, hadn't she? She thought she had.  
  
"That's where we're going. The bath house." Kohaku's words interrupted her thoughts once again in a soothing tone. He was being patient with her still.  
  
Taking a step ahead of Rumi toward the door, the boy grabbed Rumi's wrist again, but she pulled it away immediately. Whirling around to face her, Kohaku saw she wore the pouty and stubborn face of a child. He was taken a bit aback at her independence, and was even a bit hurt. This girl, who knew Chihiro, wouldn't let him help her as he had once helped Chihiro. Chihiro, who had grown to love as a wonderful friend. She had let him hold her hand and help her. This.this girl. She was not like Chihiro.  
  
"Fine." Kohaku said, his voice wavering as it was torn between concealing irritation and hurt. Rumi sensed this and felt a bit upset, but not much. She was too upset about her own problems to think about if she had hurt him in any way.  
  
Walking quickly out the door, hardly looking back to see if Rumi was following, Kohaku turned and jogged up the steps quickly, his sandals making unusually little noise as he walked. Rumi didn't question this, but walked up the steps so to keep up with him, skipping a step as she did so. Arriving at the top, Kohaku turned back and looked somewhere or another- Rumi could not see this because she was struggling up the last steps tiredly-He gritted his teeth. They were going to arrive soon.  
  
Rumi stopped next to Kohaku, catching her breath a moment. She walked a few steps to the large lamp and leaned against it. The fear she had been experiencing had made her jumpy and taken a lot of her energy.  
  
Reaching out his hand in a hopeful way, careful not to seem like he was trying to grab her again, Kohaku said, "It's only a little further. We have to keep going. Just keep walking." Looking up at him a moment, Rumi nodded, taking his hand in a somewhat reluctant way. As soon as he gripped her hand firmly, Rumi let her own hand grow limp.  
  
The two approached the bridge Rumi had seen before. But they were not alone. Some women in flowery kimonos were standing there, and they seemed highly taken aback to see her and Kohaku.  
  
Kohaku, however, seemed unfazed. He just kept walking, tugging on her hand a little. Rumi now clung to his hand, walking alongside him in an instant. Her worry had doubled at least.  
  
"W.Welcome." One of the kimono-wearing ladies said in a slightly disgusted tone. Rumi nodded to her to be polite.  
  
"Ignore them." Kohaku instructed her in a low tone, walking on as if he had not seen any of them. Reaching the end of the bridge, Rumi turned to see the women were covering their mouths and noses with the arms of their kimonos, as if taken aback by an awful smell. Rumi sniffed the air herself, and found it smelled like nothing more than crisp air.  
  
"Just keep walking." Kohaku said those words yet again. Rumi acknowledged him by emitting a small sound, but not before she looked upward and read the sign above the bathhouse.  
  
"Aburaya." she murmured, reading. Kohaku tugged on her hand a bit and she followed him into the bathhouse. 


End file.
